| QUEEN VICTORIA |
| CUNARD |
QUEEN VICTORIA being floated
out. (Photo courtesy of Cunard).
out. (Photo courtesy of Cunard).
Thus, while QUEEN VICTORIA may have sprung from a cruise ship
design, there have been significant modifications so that she cannot be called
just a cruise ship. Whether she can be called a true ocean liner is a closer
question. While she is designed to cross rough seas, with a 24 knot
maximum speed, she will be no transatlantic greyhound of the likes of the
UNITED STATES (40 plus knots) or even the current Cunard fleet - -
QE2 (33 knots) and QM2 (30 knots). However, the vast majority of
ocean liners never came near achieving such speeds. "Cunard has built
more ocean liners than everybody else and every time we build one it is
slightly different. When QE2 was built, [people said]: 'What is this ship? Is
it a cruise ship, is it an ocean liner? What is it?' There is always a little bit of
a 'what is happening next.' Cunard continues to evolve. She will look like
an ocean liner and as far as our guests are concerned, she is an ocean liner,
as far as I am concerned."
The technological differences between QUEEN VICTORIA and modern
cruises ships are, however, secondary. "She is all about style," says
Marlow. "This ship is going to be along the lines of a traditional Cunard
ocean liner with the grandeur, the elegance, and the whole feel I think will be
very different."
To begin, Cunard has taken a number of the public rooms including the
library, the shopping arcade and the grand ballroom and made them more
than one deck high. "Included within the interior are some double and triple
height spaces, many more than you normally have in a P&O cruise ship,"
Marlow notes. "The difference in the height of the rooms really changes the
feel."
But, the fact that these rooms will be several decks high does not by itself
serve to give them an ocean liner feel. Many modern cruise ships such as
Royal Caribbean's Voyager-class ships have large multi-deck areas which,
while impressive, do not, and are not, intended to give the impression of an
ocean liner. (See The Log, Spring 2007 at p. 15). Realizing this, Cunard is
decorating the shopping arcade with wrought iron so that it will be
reminiscent of the Burlington Arcade and the Queen's Arcade in London,
placing rich, wood paneling and stained-glass ceilings in the multi-story
library as in a London gentleman's club, and using Queen Victoria's seaside
mansion, Osbourne House, as the inspiration for decorating the grand
ballroom. This harkening back to the luxury of the past will be a theme
throughout the ship.
QUEEN VICTORIA, however, will not be an ocean liner pastiche. The
passengers who traveled on the ocean liners during the "Golden Age of
Ocean Travel" had to make numerous compromises due to the limits of the
available technology that today's travelers would not tolerate. Thus, what
Cunard is doing is taking contemporary technology and overlaying it with
the style of the ocean liner era.
To illustrate, at the front of the ship, there will be a three-deck high theater.
It will have a stage as large and as well-equipped as a Broadway theater.
That in itself is nothing new; NOORDAM and the other Vistas have such
theaters. However, Cunard is not decorating the room in
contemporary-style but rather seeking to invoke the feel of a grand West
End theater from the turn of the last century. Amongst other things, there
will be private boxes. "What we thought we would do is put together a little
theater experience for those that would wish to pre-reserve one of the
boxes. That would involve one of our members of staff coming to the
restaurant to pick-up our guests, lead them along to the private lounge
where they could sit and enjoy an after dinner coffee and then we would
present them with some champagne, some wonderful chocolates that they
could take with them to their box to watch the show in their own private
room."
Along the same lines, on the top deck will be an area near the pool that will
be decorated like the conservatory in an English aristocrat's country house.
The difference will be that this room will have a retractable roof that will
open to the skies during warm weather. In short, "[i]t is a different feel.
When you look at the plans of the ship now compared to ARCADIA,
which was going to be QUEEN VICTORIA, they are quite different."
The ocean liner tradition is not merely a matter of decoration, it is also a
matter of the style of life onboard - the sophistication, the quality of service,
the formality, the grandeur. "That will be very much along the lines of QE2
and QUEEN MARY 2, that Cunard feel, the White Star service,
white-glove service, very much along the same style. That is what Cunard is
famed for and that's what we want to continue - - not a cruise ship feel."
This means that rather than entertaining the passengers with games designed
around who falls in the pool first, there will be presentations by the Royal
Academy of Dramatic Arts ("RADA"), lectures by professors from various
universities and exhibits about Cunard's history in a seagoing museum.
"What we've seen with our research over recent years is [that people who
travel on Cunard ships are] looking for authenticity and a bit of history and
heritage in what they do on their holidays. They are looking for learning and
understanding, which we offer in Cunard. One thing about Cunard that is
very unique is that it is so international in terms of its guests. And yet, even
though those guests are from all over the world, they have a
like-mindedness about them that helps them enjoy our lecture series, our
RADA workshops, our book club, our library and all those good things.
With the history, the heritage and the tradition, we are attracting a certain
sort of person wherever they are from. It is up to us to make sure that we
make that very clear. It attracts people that like that sort of feel."
Along the same lines, while QUEEN VICTORIA will have a nightclub and
a variety of bars to suit different tastes, evenings will not be tee shirts and
shorts. "We'll look to what our guests want but we will make sure that we
have those Cunard signatures of the big band balls and the 20s and 30s
music, which is the Golden Age of Travel."
The reason Cunard emphasizes tradition is straightforward. "The research
that we've done shows that people think of cruises on cruise lines as
holidays. When they come on Cunard, they think of it more as an event, it
is more than a holiday, it is something to be treasured and anticipated. So,
we want to make sure that we hold onto that difference."
design, there have been significant modifications so that she cannot be called
just a cruise ship. Whether she can be called a true ocean liner is a closer
question. While she is designed to cross rough seas, with a 24 knot
maximum speed, she will be no transatlantic greyhound of the likes of the
UNITED STATES (40 plus knots) or even the current Cunard fleet - -
QE2 (33 knots) and QM2 (30 knots). However, the vast majority of
ocean liners never came near achieving such speeds. "Cunard has built
more ocean liners than everybody else and every time we build one it is
slightly different. When QE2 was built, [people said]: 'What is this ship? Is
it a cruise ship, is it an ocean liner? What is it?' There is always a little bit of
a 'what is happening next.' Cunard continues to evolve. She will look like
an ocean liner and as far as our guests are concerned, she is an ocean liner,
as far as I am concerned."
The technological differences between QUEEN VICTORIA and modern
cruises ships are, however, secondary. "She is all about style," says
Marlow. "This ship is going to be along the lines of a traditional Cunard
ocean liner with the grandeur, the elegance, and the whole feel I think will be
very different."
To begin, Cunard has taken a number of the public rooms including the
library, the shopping arcade and the grand ballroom and made them more
than one deck high. "Included within the interior are some double and triple
height spaces, many more than you normally have in a P&O cruise ship,"
Marlow notes. "The difference in the height of the rooms really changes the
feel."
But, the fact that these rooms will be several decks high does not by itself
serve to give them an ocean liner feel. Many modern cruise ships such as
Royal Caribbean's Voyager-class ships have large multi-deck areas which,
while impressive, do not, and are not, intended to give the impression of an
ocean liner. (See The Log, Spring 2007 at p. 15). Realizing this, Cunard is
decorating the shopping arcade with wrought iron so that it will be
reminiscent of the Burlington Arcade and the Queen's Arcade in London,
placing rich, wood paneling and stained-glass ceilings in the multi-story
library as in a London gentleman's club, and using Queen Victoria's seaside
mansion, Osbourne House, as the inspiration for decorating the grand
ballroom. This harkening back to the luxury of the past will be a theme
throughout the ship.
QUEEN VICTORIA, however, will not be an ocean liner pastiche. The
passengers who traveled on the ocean liners during the "Golden Age of
Ocean Travel" had to make numerous compromises due to the limits of the
available technology that today's travelers would not tolerate. Thus, what
Cunard is doing is taking contemporary technology and overlaying it with
the style of the ocean liner era.
To illustrate, at the front of the ship, there will be a three-deck high theater.
It will have a stage as large and as well-equipped as a Broadway theater.
That in itself is nothing new; NOORDAM and the other Vistas have such
theaters. However, Cunard is not decorating the room in
contemporary-style but rather seeking to invoke the feel of a grand West
End theater from the turn of the last century. Amongst other things, there
will be private boxes. "What we thought we would do is put together a little
theater experience for those that would wish to pre-reserve one of the
boxes. That would involve one of our members of staff coming to the
restaurant to pick-up our guests, lead them along to the private lounge
where they could sit and enjoy an after dinner coffee and then we would
present them with some champagne, some wonderful chocolates that they
could take with them to their box to watch the show in their own private
room."
Along the same lines, on the top deck will be an area near the pool that will
be decorated like the conservatory in an English aristocrat's country house.
The difference will be that this room will have a retractable roof that will
open to the skies during warm weather. In short, "[i]t is a different feel.
When you look at the plans of the ship now compared to ARCADIA,
which was going to be QUEEN VICTORIA, they are quite different."
The ocean liner tradition is not merely a matter of decoration, it is also a
matter of the style of life onboard - the sophistication, the quality of service,
the formality, the grandeur. "That will be very much along the lines of QE2
and QUEEN MARY 2, that Cunard feel, the White Star service,
white-glove service, very much along the same style. That is what Cunard is
famed for and that's what we want to continue - - not a cruise ship feel."
This means that rather than entertaining the passengers with games designed
around who falls in the pool first, there will be presentations by the Royal
Academy of Dramatic Arts ("RADA"), lectures by professors from various
universities and exhibits about Cunard's history in a seagoing museum.
"What we've seen with our research over recent years is [that people who
travel on Cunard ships are] looking for authenticity and a bit of history and
heritage in what they do on their holidays. They are looking for learning and
understanding, which we offer in Cunard. One thing about Cunard that is
very unique is that it is so international in terms of its guests. And yet, even
though those guests are from all over the world, they have a
like-mindedness about them that helps them enjoy our lecture series, our
RADA workshops, our book club, our library and all those good things.
With the history, the heritage and the tradition, we are attracting a certain
sort of person wherever they are from. It is up to us to make sure that we
make that very clear. It attracts people that like that sort of feel."
Along the same lines, while QUEEN VICTORIA will have a nightclub and
a variety of bars to suit different tastes, evenings will not be tee shirts and
shorts. "We'll look to what our guests want but we will make sure that we
have those Cunard signatures of the big band balls and the 20s and 30s
music, which is the Golden Age of Travel."
The reason Cunard emphasizes tradition is straightforward. "The research
that we've done shows that people think of cruises on cruise lines as
holidays. When they come on Cunard, they think of it more as an event, it
is more than a holiday, it is something to be treasured and anticipated. So,
we want to make sure that we hold onto that difference."
BUILDING UPON
TRADITION
(CONCLUDED)
TRADITION
(CONCLUDED)
The new QUEEN VICTORIA will be the first Cunard ship to bear that name but it is a name with a long history at Cunard. According to Cunard legend, in the 1930s when Cunard was building the first of its Queen-class ships, it was decided to name the new ship QUEEN VICTORIA. All Cunard ships until that time had had names ending in "IA" and this revolutionary new ship would be worthy of bearing the name of Britain's most famous monarch. However, Cunard felt that it needed royal consent to use the name and so obtained an audience with King George V, grandson of Queen Victoria. Reportedly, at the critical point, the Cunard representative said: "We would like your majesty's permission to name the ship after Britain's greatest queen." The King promptly replied: "My wife will be delighted!" Since it would not have been proper to correct the royal misunderstanding, the ship was called QUEEN MARY. |